Saturday, 11 July 2009

New Work

Working name, "Altered".Pastel, charcoal, graphite on Uart paper

This is the first image from a series of illustrations that I am creating, working name “Altered”. It is based on the Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel. I’ve been fascinated with the murders in London attributed to Jack the Ripper since I was a kid. I do not wish to degrade or ill-use the ladies who were murdered; I think they have been exploited enough. My aim is to describe the living condition’s of the East Enders in London in that particular era, to understand the desperation of the people and the ladies who were to become victimized by Jack the Ripper and subsequently by gawkers, hawkers and entrepreneurs. And mostly, like all of us Ripperologist (people who study the crimes of Jack the Ripper), to ask the question by means of creating my images, what sort of person would do such a thing? “Profiling is nothing more than an opinion of the individual preparing the profile; It’s not a science, it’s an Art.”, FBI Profiler Roy Hazelwood, Jack the Ripper documentary.